Moore Grocery Company
a.k.a. King Feed Company
101 S. Edward Gary St., San Marcos, TXIn some towns, some buildings encapsulate a certain aspect of local history. In San Marcos, the building at 101 South Edward Gary portrays early 20th-century, middle-class commerce. It housed the Moore Grocery Company and is presently home to the King Feed Company. Neither business has obscured the original fixtures or the stately utilitarian design, which is the best preserved of its type and period in town.
John. M. Moore had the store built in 1913. His wholesale grocery company competed with the only other similar outfit, the Southern Grocery Company. A 1918 fire, rumored to have been set to hide stolen rationed goods, destroyed the latter store. Moore em- ployed several salesmen to sell staples, canned goods, candy, dried fruit, and general merchandise to local and area retailers. Occasionally he sold to institutions such as the Austin State Hospital and the State Blind School.
The company seems to have dealt with all types of necessities except highly perishable fruits and vegetables. Upstairs, tires and tubes were for sale. Deliveries arrived via railroad and unloaded at the spur that ran alongside the building. Bulk items were repackaged for sale to retailers. Moore added a room to the rear to contain low wire-mesh tables for drying and/or storing fruit and stocks of matches. The firewall between this room and the main building recently saved the store from destruction by arson.
After a brief period as the Groce-Wearden Grocery Company, the building was sold in 1955 to Clarence T. King, who moved his feed business there. Remaining in place are the original Otis Elevator, the floor scale, wood floors, and sliding doors. The entire atmosphere is reminiscent of the decades when these businesses were central to the community.
Bibliography
Lotha Mae King, unpublished written material, March 1982. On file at San Marcos
Public Library.
Interview with Bess Moore Hopson, July 7, 1982.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.